Community Health Services Benefit from Medco Settlement Grant

SPOKANE, Wash. — The Washington State University Intercollegiate College of Nursing has been awarded a $10,000 grant for prescription medications to be used for academic health services outreach efforts.
 
The one-time grant, awarded by the Consumer Protection Division of the Washington state attorney general’s office, will be used for prescription medications for patients of the Peoples Clinic and the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile. To qualify to receive the medications, the patients must be at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, have no health coverage such as Medicaid or Basic Health, or must be elderly or disabled. The funds must be used before June 30, 2005.
 
The College of Nursing, along with 49 agencies statewide, received the grant as the result of a recent legal settlement between the state and Medco Health Solutions Inc. The settlement is part of a $20.2 million national agreement reached in April with the attorneys general in 20 states, who contended that Medco, a Franklin Lakes, New Jersey-based pharmacy-benefit manager, withheld prescription drug information from patients, doctors and drug companies. As part of the settlement, Medco agreed to change its practices, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
 
No other such programs currently provide necessary prescription medications to the low-income or uninsured clients of the Peoples Clinic system or the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile in Spokane. The care mobile travels to the most underserved neighborhoods to provide care where the most need exists. The percentage of residents who are uninsured or underinsured continues to grow locally. Spokane shares the national problem of providing health care to this segment of the population. Downtown Spokane, where the main Peoples Clinic is located in the YWCA, is the poorest legislative district in the state of Washington.
 
This grant will provide much-needed medications for the clinic systems low-income patients who have no medication coverage and are not able to pay for their prescribed medications, said Margaret Bruya, assistant dean for academic health services, nurse practitioner and co-founder of Peoples Clinic at the WSU Intercollegiate College of Nursing. We anticipate more than 750 clients will receive essential prescription medications due to this funding.
 
Established in 1998, the Peoples Clinic provides a full spectrum of primary health care services including general health services, immunizations, school sports physicals, women’s health, well child exams, screening and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, dental services via local provider contract and referrals to specialty services such as obstetrical and surgical services. All services are provided by faculty of the college and nurse practitioners.
 
The Ronald McDonald Care Mobile, established in 2001, is a unique health care facility on wheels that reaches out to children and youth where they live and attend school. The program offers, without charge, primary care and dental services, including diagnosis, treatment, referral and follow-up.
 
The WSU Intercollegiate College of Nursing is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. Established in 1968, the college is celebrating 36 years of world-class nursing education. The college is the nation’s oldest and most comprehensive nursing education consortium offering baccalaureate, graduate and professional development course work to nursing students enrolled through its consortium partners: Eastern Washington University, Gonzaga University and Whitworth College, and in five communities across the state. Each year the college educates more than 700 graduate and upper-division undergraduate students and prepares more entry-level nurses than any other state educational institution. For more information about the College of Nursing visit the Web site at nursing.wsu.edu.